SGI 2024 | Canada | Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Recent Governments Experts

SGI experts on Canada

Michael Howlett

Michael Howlett s Burnaby Mountain Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. He specializes in public policy analysis, political economy, and resource and environmental policy. His articles have been published in many professional journals in Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Howlett currently edits the Annual Review of Policy Design, Policy Sciences, Policy Design and Practice, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and Policy & Society, as well as the University of Toronto Press Series in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy, the Policy Press International Library of Policy Analysis, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Public Policy and Cambridge Elements of Public Policy. He is the founder of Research Committee 30 (Comparative Public Policy) of the International Political Science Association and sits on the Executive Committee of the International Public Policy Association.
His most recent book is Designing Public Policies: Principles and Instruments (New York: Routledge, 2024).

André Lecours

André Lecours is Full Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. His main research interests are Canadian politics, European politics, nationalism (with a focus on Quebec, Scotland, Flanders, Catalonia and the Basque country) and federalism. He is the editor of New Institutionalism. Theory and Analysis published by the University of Toronto Press in 2005, the author of Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State (University of Nevada Press, 2007), and the co-author (with Daniel Béland) of Nationalism and Social Policy. The Politics of Territorial Solidarity (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Shirley Anne Scharf

Shirley Anne Scharf is a Digital Policy Hub Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada and a Visiting Researcher with the CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy, University of Ottawa. Shirley Anne has a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include industrial policy, governance and technological change and comparative political economy. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on Canadian innovation policy and she is currently researching innovation policy in the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Canada. She has also served in government, managing science and technological organizations and as a policy analyst.

Daniel Béland (Coordinator)

Daniel Béland is Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and James McGill Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University. He has held visiting academic positions at Harvard University, the University of Bremen, the University of Nagoya, the University of Southern Denmark, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Professor Béland currently serves as Executive Editor of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and President of the Research Committee 19 (Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy) of the International Sociological Association. A student of social and fiscal policy, he has published more than 20 books and 160 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Overview of
governance
systems

The report provides an overview of Canada’s governance and policymaking systems across multiple dimensions, including democratic governmental practices and institutions, governance with foresight, and various aspects of economic, social, health, and environmental sustainability. It discusses the merits and drawbacks of Canada’s electoral system, political party system, access to information, media freedom, civil society, corruption prevention, judicial practices, legislative activity and capacities, and other institutions related to democratic governance.

Economic, social, environmental topics covered

Key economic policy areas covered include the circular economy, critical infrastructure, energy, labor markets, taxation, budgeting, and financial stability. Social and health policy domains analyzed include education, basic needs, healthcare, gender equality, families, pensions, and migration. Environmental topics include climate change, pollution and health risks, ecosystems and biodiversity, and global efforts.

The report draws on academic sources, government reports, legislation, and indicators to assess strengths and weaknesses.

Democracy strengths, policy inconsistencies

In general, the report finds that Canada scores well on democratic freedoms, social programs, financial oversight, and some environmental efforts. However, it identifies shortcomings in transparency, Indigenous rights, climate action, healthcare access, and other areas. Some of these shortcomings are related to specific practices in Canada’s Westminster-style government, its federal structure and conflicts over divisions of governmental powers, and its primarily resource extraction-based economy, which undermines many concerns evinced around topics like climate change and environmental protection. Climate policy lacks consistency across provinces, and heavy reliance on fossil fuel exports undermines emissions reduction efforts. Environmental and biodiversity protection is fairly robust, but more action is needed to meet conservation targets.

Poor transparency practices

More specifically, Canada’s electoral system is found to facilitate free and fair elections and political competition. However, party leaders control candidate nominations, limiting democratic choice, transparency, and accountability. Government transparency practices, in particular, are quite poor. Access to information laws exist but have broad exemptions. Regarding accountability, media are free, but concentrated ownership limits diversity of perspectives in traditional print and electronic communication and reporting.

Effective judiciary
with some gaps

Civil society groups can advocate but have limited resources and policy influence and access compared to business interests. An independent judiciary effectively upholds individual rights and freedoms, mediates constitutional disputes, and upholds the rule of law. However, rights set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms can be limited through the notwithstanding clause, which can also be used to uphold provincial laws by removing them from judicial scrutiny.

Fiscal prudence
a strength

On the other hand, fiscal prudence and oversight of financial institutions are strong. Healthcare is universal and equitable, although plagued by long wait times for procedures.

Overall, the analysis paints a nuanced picture of policymaking in Canada, with a mix of successes and challenges across the dimensions evaluated.